


Christmas at the Palmers

by TheKeyboardNinja



Category: NCIS
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:34:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21951529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheKeyboardNinja/pseuds/TheKeyboardNinja
Summary: An informal party at his house providers Jimmy some reflection on his previous words to Nick in autopsy following the double date. There's a gift exchange, friendly poker, and a power outage. Post 17x07.
Relationships: Ellie Bishop/Nick Torres
Comments: 3
Kudos: 54





	Christmas at the Palmers

**Author's Note:**

> Even though I believe that Jimmy was messing with Nick in 17x07, this is if he was actually sincere about his zero chemistry comment. He doesn't see everything being locked away in the basement like Kasie. Anyway, this initially was thought of a drabble, but ballooned to much more. This has not been beta-ed or proofread extensively.

_I got sort of a sixth sense about these sorts of things. I can spot an office romance from a mile away. Take you and Bishop, for instance. I don't see anything. There's nothing there. Zero chemistry._

_*****_

It was a sunny and cold December weekend afternoon at the Palmer residence. Jimmy and Breena were hosting an informal holiday party for their coworkers and friends before everyone went off their respective ways.

Both were elbows deep in party preparation and didn’t even hear the knock on the door, when suddenly a shrill yell rang out, “I’LL GET IT!”

“Tori!” Breena yelled at her daughter, “Let me get it, why don’t you go on upstairs and put on your show.”

“But my friend Nick is coming! Candyland!” Victoria stomped her foot down.

The knocking continued, Breena shooed her daughter up the stairs and welcomed the caller in.

An hour later, while hors d'oeuvres and cocktails were being served, multiple friends and colleagues came bearing their assigned food dishes and gifts for the White Elephant-style gift exchange.

“Happy Holidays,” Jack Sloane appeared in the doorway carrying a bag and a bottle of wine.

“Come in, come in!” Jimmy welcomed her in.

“I just want to thank you so much for hosting, it looks lovely.”

“You’re right on time, we are just about to draw numbers for the gift exchange. I have a feeling it’s going to be a good one.”

“Why is Ellie standing on a chair staring at the gift table?”

“That is a good question,” Jimmy smiled and returned to the kitchen, leaving Jack with a questioning look on her face.

The gift exchange had clearly marked and written rules limiting that gifts could only be picked once and stolen twice before they were frozen; however, that did not stop the chaos and laughter that followed.

Lenny from Purchasing and just had their gifts stolen again for the fourth time—resulting in a mini-argument about what gifts were frozen and safe from this mounting chaos of slightly tipsy coworkers.

“How did I even end up here?” Nick asked himself out loud and motioning to the opened package in front of him. “With this bottle of spray cleaner and this coloring book of pooping animals.”

“Well, Nick, it’s because you’re the life of the party. And maybe you have to clean up the crap that the book leaves behind,” the person sitting across from him said.

“Thank you, Bishop.”

“You’re quite welcome,” Ellie said slightly hugging her spoils of a thermoflask water bottle and a scarf.

No one could steal that today. Not without risking injury. The two agents continued to provide commentary on the scene in front of them, bantering and laughing amongst themselves as the world went on around them.

Breena walked up to her husband who was wiping down the kitchen counter and commented, “Oh, they’re so cute with their back and forth. Are they dating?”

“Who?”

Breena pointed and smiled at the scene happening the next room over.

“Ellie and Nick, no” Jimmy paused his cleaning. “My sixth sense tells me nothing is going on there. He had thoughts about it, sure, but I assured him to not stress about it.”

“Your sixth sense?”

Jimmy shrugged, “Well, doesn’t matter anyway. Gibbs has a rule about this. It’s for the best, we don’t need another Greek tragedy playing out at NCIS anytime soon.”

Breena just chuckled at her husband and tossed him another towel, “Whatever you say sweetheart, maybe you should use your eyes and not your sixth sense. I’m going to go get the dessert, can you the rest out of the fridge?”

Jimmy had no response just narrowing his eyes, watching Nick and Ellie have a lively discussion with Delilah and Nancy as the gift exchange was winding down.

Several hours later, most of the party had gone home for the evening with a small group remaining. A lively game of poker had broken out with a change jar at stake.

“I’ve already told you all, I don’t know anything about poker,” Ellie chimed in.

“Ellie, there is no time like the present. Just think of it as one giant puzzle, you just have to get the right combination to win.” Jack leaned over to her, speaking her guidance.

“Don’t encourage her. Now she’ll destroy us.”

“Be quiet, Nick,” Delilah dealt the hand. “If there’s anyone to be concerned about tonight, it’s me.”

“Mm.”

Twelves hands later, Ellie had slowly been getting the hang of the game and even managed to win a few hands.

“Damn, B. Be nice to us,” Kasie commented folding her hand to which Ellie just shrugged. “I’m going to get something else to drink.”

As she was filling her glass with some fresh water, Breena walked up to her, “Jimmy’s getting Tori to bed. She wanted to stay up and see Santa, we had to explain that wasn’t until Christmas Eve.”

“Can’t blame her for trying,” Kasie reasoned. “I probably tried the same logic when I was a kid.”

“So,” Breena stressed. “How’s it going out there?”

“Ellie has picked up way too fast. The crowd is getting suspicious, Nick made her roll up her sleeves and commented on her choice of the turtleneck sweater. Something about her neck getting sweaty when she lies. I noticed that before but didn’t know what it meant. It’s an odd thing to notice about a person…” Kasie continued to ramble on. “Sorry, that was the brandy and eggnog. What’s up?”

“I’m just curious. Jimmy said there’s nothing going on with Ellie and Nick, but I’m not so sure.”

“Jimmy said that?”

“Yeah, he said that Nick had thoughts about something but told him that nothing was happening and to not stress about it.”

“And she is down for the night!” Jimmy came down the stairs in a low stage whisper of excitement of placing an excited four-year-old down for the night. “What? What did I do?”

“You told Nick that there was nothing between him and Ellie? Dude not cool,” Kasie scolded.

“But there isn’t,” Jimmy said firmly, smiling while placing his fists on his hips. “See, they’re just friends having a good time, that’s all.”

“I was wondering what broke Nick a few weeks ago, and I thought it was just the double date disaster, but Hurricane Jimmy might have been a stakeholder.”

Jimmy provided a confused look and walked into the living room, providing support for a stare down between McGee and Jack on the current hand.

Kasie sighed and took a swig of her water with her eyes wandering around, following the Christmas decorations, “You really went all out. Awesome.”

“Yeah, Tori started to understand what Christmas was last year and we wanted to make sure she had good memories.”

“Very sweet.”

“Garland with the lights took the longest, but the mistletoe up there suspended from the ceiling next to the doorway took an act of God to hang.”

“No one has noticed it yet,” Kasie smirked.

Breena just smiled and shrugged joining her husband in the living room.

“FULL HOUSE! QUEEN AND ACES!” Jack shouted. “Don’t come for the big dogs, Tim. You will lose.”

Delilah comforted her husband with a hand on his shoulder, “She’s right honey, she had you dead to rights. The odds were not looking good.”

“You didn’t say anything,” Tim questioned. “You left me out there to rot.”

“It’s not sporting.”

Those remaining around the table nodded in response and were preparing their coins for the next hand.

“Kasie, your turn as dealer, 7 card or Hold ‘Em? Dealer’s choice.” Jack wiggled the cards at her.

An intense hand had broken out with the pot in the middle becoming a substantial pile of quarters, nickels, and dime. Ellie had folded her hand and stepped away to the kitchen gravitating to the leftover pre-dinner cheese and crackers. Soon after Nick joined her, leaning on the counter as she ate.

“I’ve seen nicer games in the drug dealers trash houses,” Nick started. “One time, when I was working undercover at the Navy base in Charleston...”

“Oh my god, not other undercover story.”

Nick was about to continue the exploits of a bust in South Carolina, when Breena pointed and yelled out “Mistletoe!”

Both of them looked at their shoes and groaned.

“Just get it over with and get back here, I’m dealing, and I don’t wait,” Delilah commanded.

“Just like old times,” Nick shrugged.

“Exactly,” Ellie agreed. “Delilah means business.”

A surprised silence broke out at the poker table, as those seated were expecting them just back out awkwardly and walk away, when their lips met. When suddenly, everything went dark and silent. Power outage.

“Probably just an ice related transformer surge,” Jimmy reasoned with mumbling in agreement received in response. “It will be on really shortly.”

Thirty-seconds later, Jimmy’s prediction came true. However, he did not expect those in the kitchen to still be in their embrace. There will be future disagreement about hand placements by parties involved and witnesses to the event, but that is a discussion for another day.

A scream rang from upstairs, “Daddy! Mommy!”

“I’ll go check on her, she doesn’t like the dark,” Breena rang up stairs to comfort her daughter at the power surge.

Victoria screams broke apart the scene in the kitchen.

“The dark?” Ellie asked.

“Some kids don’t like power outages,” Jack reasoned. “It’s a scary time that upsets their routine.”

“What power outage?” Nick asked as he sat down, looking at the cards he was dealt by Delilah.

Low side-eyes of the other remaining people sat down at the table with Kasie staring fully at Jimmy, who was lost in deep thought.

“Are you in, Jimmy?”

“Yes, I am in,” he said swallowing picking up his cards.

After everyone had left the house, Jimmy was watching his coworkers and friends walk down the driveway to their respective vehicles out of the front window from his couch.

“That was fun!” Breena announced, sitting next to her husband and draping her arm over his shoulder.

“Yeah,” Jimmy sighed.

“What’s on your mind?”

“When I was telling you earlier, how I told Nick there was nothing there. Zero chemistry…”

“You told them that exactly, yikes, no wonder you broke him.”

“Kasie was just saying that. I did not break him. Rule 12 has been there as a principle for Gibbs team and it must be followed, but…”

“But…?”

“Rule 51.”

“Oh my god, another rule. What guidance does this one give us?”

**_“Sometimes, you’re wrong.”_ **

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. This is dedicated to the Ellick friends on Tumblr. Some of these events have been inspired by events of my life, mostly the White Elephant gift exchange (I had six gifts and five were stolen) and the Christmas Eve poker fun time.
> 
> It's 11:36pm on Christmas Eve, and I managed to get some Christmas inspired fluff from Jimmy's perspective about his MISTAKES interfering with this 'ship!


End file.
